November 15, 2005
Just a short entry. I just finish making some lesson materials for tomorrow’s lesson. I thought that since I was on the computer, I should write a quick entry.

Originally, I was told to come every day this week, but the payroll secretary made a mistake. Yesterday was Parent / Teacher conferences, so no substitute teachers are used for half days. Therefore, I returned home and wrote the previous very long blog entry (while watching TV). Then, I went the Staples copy-center to photocopy some pages out of various workbooks. Just like in Japan, where I was assigned to travel from school to school; I am doing the same thing now. I am making a kind of emergency teaching kit (containing several lessons for various grades and abilities. As a sub. teacher, I have no idea where I will be going, nor do I know what grade (K to 6) I’ll be asked to teach. When I am prepared with something, I can handle the classes a little bit better, than if I walk in with nothing. After making my copies (about an hour), I went to an internet café to upload the previous blog. I also started uploading a few photos (6) onto my other web site. I was planning to upload more photos, but the internet café was full – no computers were available.

Today, I was a substitute teacher for another teacher who was in the building; however, she was substituting for another teacher who was absent. Today I was stopped in the hall and asked about my sub. assignment. I explained to the woman not realizing (until a student told me later) that I was talking to the teacher I was substituting for, that was when I realized that the teacher I was subbing for was not the one with the broken ankle.

My schedule (today) was the same as the previous days; also, I had the exact same classes, so I had to come up with some lesson plans, or else the students would be wilder than usual.

Highlights:

I had a couple of pre-k classes. The pre-k kids are nice (relatively speaking), but I am not a pre-k teacher. I don’t really like working with the very little kids; they are too needy. The first pre-k class teacher was a little reluctant to leave the room, but once she saw my classroom management was okay, she was comfortable with leaving the room. Today, she was even more comfortable with leaving an assignment for me to do. I was suppose to collect the drawings of each student and ask each student what he (or she) drew, then I had to write what each child told me into a notebook. Unfortunately, as soon as the teacher left, the little ones started coming up to me at the same time each talking at the same time. I just gave up. I was also a little annoyed that the assistant teacher said she was going to the bathroom, but ended up staying out for most of the period.

The second pre-k class teacher seemed more willing to leave me alone with her class; she left me alone on the first day. The assistant teacher also took this time as her lunch period, so again I was alone with the little ones. Last Friday, the assistant teacher told me that a parent volunteer would come in and help me. The volunteer came in looked around, and left. Today, I was alone with the kids, but the assistant teacher took the most disruptive kid with her, so the class was actually very nice…relatively speaking!

The second grade class was a bit disruptive, but relatively speaking they were a nice bunch.

From the second grade I went to the other pre-k class. From the pre-k class on the first floor, I had a sixth grade class on the third floor, at the opposite end of the building. Which brings me to the bell schedule; there are no bells between classes, and no travel time between periods, and a couple of the teachers return to the class late, which makes me late for the next class.

The Kindergarten class was nice…again relatively speaking. Although I don’t like teaching the little kids, I would have to say that the kindergarten class today was the best of the classes that I had today.

What about the sixth grade class. I’ll keep this short by saying, “similar to junior high school public schools in Japan; the students were aggressive, arrogant, immature and many seemed to not care less about learning anything.

For lunch, I drank a Nutrament health shake. I miss the healthy choices in Japan. I think I am going to try to make onigiri (rice balls). Of all the foods, I think I miss the onigiri the most. A healthy meal in a ball. Whenever I was hungry, I would eat a couple of onigiri, and drink a bottle of green tea. Now, here in New York, the shelves are overflowing with junk food.

Well, it is getting late, so I better stop now. I still have to shower and iron my clothes for tomorrow. Ja mata…

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November 17, 2005
This week I’ve been substituting at the same school. I thought this school was much better than the other two, but yesterday proved that it isn’t much better than the other schools.

Yesterday, most of the day went okay, with the exception of the 6th grade class that I had. One boy in the class, decided to just walk out of the class. Then another student (a girl) decided to follow. When they returned, they were loud and disruptive. The boy would not stop banging on the desk. The girl wandered the room causing other students to be disruptive. One, for walking out of the room without permission, two for not doing the work (that I had assigned), and three for being disruptive; I decided that the disruptive students would eat lunch last. I stayed in the lunch room to make sure that the students ate last. The students did not like that so they argued with me and were incredibly disrespectful; one girl was more disrespectful than the other two students. Curious about what a 6th grade students might say to the teacher in a lunch room filled with kids, school aids, and parent volunteers?

“Get out of my face.”
“You’re ugly. I can’t stand looking at your face.”
“You can’t tell me what to do.”
“Who do you think you are?”
This is just a sample coming from a 11 (or 12) year old girl. I was determined to not back down. And in the end, the two girls did eat last. The boy decided that since I was keeping him from eating when he wanted to, he was not going to eat at all. I ended up giving up my lunch period, but I thought that it was necessary. As a general rule, classes don’t usually treat the substitute with respect, but the level of disrespect was a surprise to me. For me, it was important to not have the students believing that they control the classroom.

So what was the result? Today, I had a very good day in the 6th grade class…relatively speaking! I just reminded the class that they could either have me for 45 minutes, or they could have me again in the lunch room. Sending the message that I mean business helped me win the battle, but not the war. I don’t believe for a minute that the class will be well behaved from now on. The only thing I accomplished was increasing my level of respect in the eyes on the students in that class.

Today was a long day, but a relatively nice day. Since I was in a relatively good mood, I accepted an after-school substitute assignment. I was tired, but I said okay. After the assignment, I went to Staples office supply store to make some copies for tomorrow. Today the only photocopy machine at the school was out of order.

Well, I’ll end this entry now. Ja mata…